Don’t get taken in by this hard-sell tactic
THE other day a guy came to my door and tried to sell me a new driveway. I don’t really mind doorstep sellers, everyone’s got to make a living, and if that’s how a business chooses to market its products then so be it.
He was a polite, smartly dressed young lad and it was a very hot day. I could tell from his bright pink skin and the way he flustered through his sales pitch that he’d been pounding the streets for a while.
Funnily enough, we have been looking into resurfacing our driveway, so I threw him some rope and gave him my details.
Lo and behold, a few days later, a salesman from the company called to arrange my free quote. I told him I worked from home and he could call any time after 4pm. “Will your wife be home as well?” He asked. That’s when the fun and games started.
I was told it would not be possible to send someone to give us a free
quote unless both homeowners – in our case husband and wife – were at home. I asked why this was, even though I knew it was actually nothing more than a cheeky sales tactic.
“It’s because we’ve got such a big range of colours and it’s hard for people to choose when we’re not with them,” was pretty much what he told me.
I said it wouldn’t be possible to see my wife as she works long hours, which is sort of true, and if they didn’t want to talk to me and trust me to pass on the information to my significant other they wouldn’t get my business.
A few days later a second salesman called to follow it up. He asked whether we were still interested and I explained why I wasn’t. This time we were told a different story. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was something to do with the safety of their sales staff.
I laughed loudly down the phone when I was told that and pointed out that I’d worked in sales in the past and that I knew exactly what they were up to. It’s about making sure they can close the sale on the same day.
Here’s how it works. If they came to see me on my own, while the wife was at work, they know full well I could quite easily say “well I like all this, but I’ll have to run it by the wife first.” Whereas if both people are there that excuse to brush them off is null and void, and the hard sell can properly begin.
Obviously, there’s nothing unlawful about this, but I don’t like being spun a yarn.
It’s happened to me before. We needed a window replacing and a double-glazing man showed up at my door, so I entertained it and thought I’d see how much a new window would cost.
I was told, during the follow-up call, that both husband and wife absolutely had to be there because they were members of some sort of trade body and it was a stipulation in their code of conduct. So I looked up the code of conduct and, guess what, the stipulation didn’t exist.
The moral of the story isn’t necessarily to ignore genuine doorstep sellers, but always avoid getting locked in to an uncomfortable hard sell by a person who doesn’t want to leave without your signature on a form. If in any doubt, just tell them to naff off. They’ve heard that before.
The bottom line is, always take the “free, no obligation quote” promise with a pinch of salt. As my two experiences have proven, it’s sometimes complete rubbish.